Who ya gonna call? Reptile Rescue

Rattler wrestler brings a hook and a big canvas bag to get rid of snakes

Ron Sullivan and Joe Eaton

Published
4:00 am PST, Wednesday, March 5, 2008

###Live Caption:A baby rattlesnake Joe Eaton and Ron (Veronica) Sullivan met on Mount Diablo in May, 2006. (OK to mention location in caption, to show that this is indeed a Bay Area snake.)###Caption History:A baby rattlesnake Joe Eaton and Ron (Veronica) Sullivan met on Mount Diablo in May, 2006. (OK to mention location in caption, to show that this is indeed a Bay Area snake.)###Notes:###Special Instructions: less

###Live Caption:A baby rattlesnake Joe Eaton and Ron (Veronica) Sullivan met on Mount Diablo in May, 2006. (OK to mention location in caption, to show that this is indeed a Bay Area snake.)###Caption History:A ... more

Photo: Ron Sullivan

Photo: Ron Sullivan

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###Live Caption:A baby rattlesnake Joe Eaton and Ron (Veronica) Sullivan met on Mount Diablo in May, 2006. (OK to mention location in caption, to show that this is indeed a Bay Area snake.)###Caption History:A baby rattlesnake Joe Eaton and Ron (Veronica) Sullivan met on Mount Diablo in May, 2006. (OK to mention location in caption, to show that this is indeed a Bay Area snake.)###Notes:###Special Instructions: less

###Live Caption:A baby rattlesnake Joe Eaton and Ron (Veronica) Sullivan met on Mount Diablo in May, 2006. (OK to mention location in caption, to show that this is indeed a Bay Area snake.)###Caption History:A ... more

Photo: Ron Sullivan

Who ya gonna call? Reptile Rescue

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We met Joe Lam - Joe the Reptile Guy - at the East Bay Vivarium; his T-shirt matched his truck's Joe's Reptile Rescue and Rattlesnake Removal sign. The rattlesnake removal is a paying gig; the reptile rescue, a labor of love.

Lam has been fascinated by reptiles and amphibians since his boyhood in the South San Francisco hills, catching snakes, lizards and frogs and reading reptile books from the public library. Fifteen years ago, after moving to Vallejo, he put the sign on his truck, and "people started calling me," he said.

Rattler season is about a month away: "I start getting calls in April, all the way to September." Lam estimates he gets 200 calls a year from Napa County alone.

He works mainly in the North Bay but will go wherever he's needed. The tools of his trade are a couple of snake hooks, one adjustable for tight spaces, and a specialized heavy canvas drawstring bag on a stick. He has snake tongs in reserve, in case a snake is wedged in a crevice too tight for the hook. Sometimes he pulls the rattlers out by hand.

His quarry is Crotalus viridis oreganus, the northern Pacific rattlesnake, which ranges from Central California up into British Columbia. It occupies a variety of habitats, from coastal sand dunes to timberline, where it feeds on rodents and rabbits, ground-nesting birds, reptiles (including other snakes) and amphibians.

Northern Pacific rattlers are the only seriously venomous snakes in the Bay Area. A few other species have tiny fangs in the rear of the jaw with enough venom to subdue small prey but not to endanger humans.

"The biggest I've caught was 5 feet long," says Lam. "I've seen one about 7 feet - an old grandpa. The bigger ones are out in the hills where they're not being seen. It's the smaller ones that come to people's houses." Lam has found rattlesnakes in woodpiles and rock piles, garages, trash cans, "shady spots, like under the porch." Sometimes they'll escape midday heat by taking a dip in the pool.

Although he has had some close calls ("These guys are quick and you've got to respect them"), Lam has never been bitten by a rattler. He says they're not aggressive, and most bites result from careless handling.

"People get bit when they try to grab the snake behind the head and grab too far down the neck. There's also a lot of alcohol involved in snakebite incidents: kids partying at Lake Berryessa who have watched 'Crocodile Hunter.' "

In additional to removals (for $250 to $300), Lam helps owners make their property less attractive to rattlesnakes. Bird feeders are a big issue; rattlers follow the rodents that eat spilled seed.

"If you have a catcher for your seeds, no problem," he says. He also recommends keeping garbage cans away from the house and watering shrubbery at an angle close to the ground to disperse lurking snakes.

The rattlers Lam catches are released on a friend's 40-acre rural property, where "they can do what rattlesnakes do: eat rodents and make babies." Ophidiophobic clients sometimes ask him to get rid of king snakes or gopher snakes; those find new homes at vineyards, where they help with rodent control.

The rescue side of Lam's operation is strictly not-for-profit. He gets calls from reptile owners whose pets have become inconveniently large and/or potentially dangerous.

"Reptiles aren't limited by the size of the cage," he notes. "People don't realize this until the reptile doesn't stop growing."

Owners have dropped off reptiles at the veterinary hospital where Lam works; he also has an arrangement with the local PetCo, and sometimes people just see his sign and flag down his truck.

Rescuees have run the gamut from little green anoles that outlived their usefulness as classroom pets to a sizable male iguana that had turned on his owner; when Lam arrived, the lizard, bright orange with anger, had trapped her in her bedroom. He handles snakes, of course, mostly big constrictors like Burmese pythons and boas, although he draws the line at anacondas (too aggressive). And he once declined to pick up a 5-foot-long alligator residing in a Berkeley kitchen; the gator wound up in a sanctuary in Florida.

Lam and his wife, Wendy Roz, find suitable homes for some rescued reptiles. Others become ambassadors, making school and 4H club appearances. Lam also does a monthly reptile presentation at the Carolyn Parr Nature Center in Napa, and the couple and some of their wards are booked for a Big Sur wedding in May.

Roz, whose own background is in mammal rescue, admits that the snakes took a little getting used to. But she accompanies Lam on some of his rattlesnake trips, he says.

"She knows I know what I'm doing, and it's good to have her there to watch my back. If I do get bit, I don't want to drive myself to the hospital."